Farewell to an uncertain year

The year 2003 has been a tumultuous one for financial services, and a nerve-wracking one for the advisory industry. The poor equity investment environment allowed little in the way of excitement for investors - the moves by the fund industry to spark the interest of potential clients lost its momentum as the two main successful asset classes - bonds and hedge funds - were either too dull or too exciting for the majority of portfolios. This unfavourable environment for the marketing departments of product providers has lead to the creation of a mainstream hedge fund industry, which will do...